A Case of Identity
by Dreams of Shadows
Summary: Third in JA series. It starts with a chance encounter at his school, and soon I find myself becoming a part of his story- Spider-Man's story.Yearning to make my mark in the world of superheroes I attempt to help Peter as he takes on the might of the Lizard. But will my interfering be for the better or for the worse?
1. Chapter 1

I was bored. One of the rare few times I get a break from going through the arduous and rigorous training of S.H.I.E.L.D., which I suppose was part of the problem because I normally had no free time to fill. To make matters worse there was no-one around; Loki had disappeared a few days ago saying nothing about why or when he'd be back- he never did, Tony and Pepper had gone back to Malibu, Clint and Nat were doing top secret stuff, Thor was on Asgard and Steve was… well I don't know what he was doing.

So upon looking outside to see the sun shining I forced myself to get up and go out- do some exploring. There were definitely parts of the city that I had yet to visit which wouldn't be a good thing if a bad guy turns up in one of those parts and I have no idea how to get there. Grabbing my stuff I left the apartment and headed downstairs, taking a random direction and walking on.

Things had been pretty peaceful since we'd come back from the Chitauri world, by which I mean no major criminals or life and death situations. Sure there had been a few minor villains, some of whom Loki had purposely found for me to 'train' against. It was a good thing for the city, but sometimes I wished we had a bigger villain to fight. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't hoping for mass destruction and death- I just wanted a chance to make a difference, to work with the Avengers on the front line this time.

I looked up at the towering skyscrapers, looming overhead in an attempt to inspire awe and wondered how those buildings could have ever excited me as much as they used too. Without looking I brushed of a man's clumsy attempt to try and pickpocket me and went on with my gaze now forward.

When you'd been to a world where you are surrounded by stars it's a little hard to appreciate the things you find here on Earth. Or maybe that's just me, because I've always had a thing for stars and much preferred the night to the day. I'd also seen the gleaming golden towers of Asgard and the frozen land of Jotunheim (The latter not so much appreciated).

But I'd met the Avengers, joined S.H.I.E.L.D., fought the Chitauri and even befriended a villainous god. I'd come to the world that thousands of people have dreamed of and made some of the greatest friends I've ever met. And yet there was a part of me that wasn't happy.

I often wondered if it was something to do with the nightmares, the memories of the more terrifying moments of my time here that, and then wondered if it was that I missed my old life. It was bound to happen wasn't it? I mean I had to miss my old life.

That was when I heard the chanting, my head tilting as though I were some kind of guard dog and picked up the words 'eat it'. Without my knowing I had seemingly ended up outside a school, and out of curiosity I stopped and looked over to the source of the commotion. As expected, there was a ring of kids- although I think teenagers might have been more appropriate- who were obviously watching some kid get bullied.

Some students had the sense not to get involved and my gaze was drawn to a girl sitting on one of the wooden tables, a book in her hands. Blonde hair tied back, a thin black hairband and wearing a cream coloured coat with the dark blue of a top peaking out; she wasn't someone I'd met before but there was something oddly familiar about her and I chewed at my lip in thought. This was going to bug me all day if I didn't figure this one out.

"Put him down," someone said loudly, and I turned my head back to the group to see who had spoken. "Eugene."

There was an oohing noise, followed by another as I guessed the kid who had spoken up got hit. Part of me wanted to go in there and show them what I had learned from S.H.I.E.L.D., but another part of me told me that it probably wasn't a good idea to do so. Weren't there any teachers around?

"Get up!" snapped another voice- the bullies most likely.

I watched the blonde get and push past the people as she entered the ring, the shouting stopping and voices dropping to normal levels. No doubt the fight had been ended, meaning I should have left but something told me to stay and so I remained.

A bell rang out and just like magic the group began to disperse as they headed off to their lessons. As they did, I spotted a kid on the floor and watched as he tried to get up. One of the boys who walked past kicked what looked like a camera and as he picked it up to check on it I realised that I knew his face as well.

The gears turned in my brain as I tried to figure out why these two looked familiar when there was a sudden strong gust of wind. Several sheets of paper flew from the boy's bag, heading in my direction and with a noise of annoyance he got up and chased them. He managed to pick up most of them but one dodged his clasping hand and made to glide past me. Without even looking I reached out and grabbed the bit of paper with a quick glance down at sheet I disregarded the formulas and tried to find the only bit of information that mattered before I held out the sheet to the kid as he came over.

"Nice catch," he said, taking the sheet back from me with a grateful nod. "Thanks."

"Are you okay?" I asked him, looking at the bruise forming on his jaw. "That looks pretty nasty."

"I've had worse," he said with a grin, stuffing the sheets back into his bag without much care and looking at me with a frown. "Were you watching the whole thing?"

"I was considering going in and taking the other guy down," I replied truthfully. "I'm not fond of bullies."

"Well be my guest," he said with a mock bow, then hesitated and pointed back over his shoulder. "I should get to class."

"Yes you should," I agreed, and raised his hand in goodbye before jogging over to the school building. He opened the doors, but before disappearing inside glanced over at me one last time and for a second we stared at each other. Then he was gone and I continued on my way, this time with a destination in mind.

Java The Hut was a great place to hang out, if you didn't cringe at the name and were in desperate need of a coffee. I hated coffee myself, but it had free to use computers and a whole load of comics to browse through. It was interesting to see what kinds they have here seeing as we live in the Marvelverse. I ordered myself a hot cocoa and sat down at one of the computers, pulling up Google and typing a name into the search bar.

Midtown Science High School, that had been the name splashed across the front, and I clicked on the link to the schools website. As I thought there were several photos of students, all relating to great achievements, and I looked around for the name of the photographer because I would bet that kid was the one who had done it.

I gave a thanks to the waiter who had brought over my drink and gave it a tentative sip, almost scalding my tongue and putting it to one side as I continued my search. I clicked my tongue in frustration, searching through all the pages until at last I came to the name I wanted.

Peter Parker. My heart skipped a beat and I almost banged my head against the table. Of course it was, I remembered that know- the blonde girl was Gwen Stacey and no doubt 'Eugene' was that Flash guy. How could I not have remembered this? I mean I'd seen the film quite a few times so why I hadn't I thought of it?

Obviously because of copyright issues, what with the rights to Spider-Man being held by some other company, and as I realised that he was actually in the same world as the Avengers I almost burst out laughing in glee. Spider-Man was here, the universe wasn't giving a crap about copyright and had kept the Marvel heroes together- either that or something was going on in my own world that I didn't know about.

So I'd just met Spider-Man, or the soon to be Spider-Man anyway. Running the events through my head I was pretty sure that scene came near the beginning, before he'd found the briefcase and gone of to Oscorp. So also before Connors turned himself into a giant lizard and started running rampant across the city, something which Fury wasn't going to appreciate.

A thought came to me, something that was probably going to land me in the middle of a problem that had nothing to do with me and yet was so appealing. There was no way I was just going to sit back and watch this play out, besides, someone had to make sure the Avengers didn't interfere.

Looks like I had a date with Oscorp.


	2. Chapter 2

"Anything I should know about?" asked Fury.

"Pardon?" I looked away from the screens which were all displaying information on Oscorp. "Probably, but not now."

"Not now?" he echoed, folding his arms and looking at me with a scowl. "If you are withholding important information…"

I waited for whatever he was going to do next, he'd been at people for far less than this- he couldn't afford to let spies in- and I had pretty much just set myself up as suspicious with those careless words. He seemed to be internally struggling, then took a seat down beside me and looked around- nobody else was in the room.

"Am I to assume that this involves your… knowledge? That you already know what is going to happen?" he asked, and I looked him over carefully before nodding. "Can you promise me that no-one is going to die?"

I thought over it, one death stood out and I knew I could stop that like I stopped Coulson's. I couldn't think of any other deaths, maybe a few injuries but there was only one death and I was not going to let that happen.

"I can," I said. A thought occurred to me. "Can you promise me no-one will interfere?"

His nostrils flared slightly and for a moment I thought he was going to lock me back up in a cell, his whole body was tense and I felt my magic starting to surge through me in response. However, he simply nodded stiffly and ran a hand over his head.

"I'm placing a lot of trust in you- but if I get even the slightest hint that this is going bad then I'm sending in back-up," he said, then got up and left.

Part of me doubted that he had actually given me much freeway, although it did make sense if I knew something was going to happen then there would be a hero involved and as such a good ending where the world is saved.

I turned my attention back to the screens where the information was displayed, including my agreed 'inspection' (I didn't know what else to call it) which I had made to match the times of the internship interviews. So now I had the double chance to meet the future Mr Lizard and Spider-Man, hopefully without making Peter suspicious of me- at least not in a bad way.

To be honest I was very nervous, but I was also thrilled at the idea that I would get to do this. No doubt Fury was going to be keeping an eye on me; he hadn't seemed to put much into the argument and certainly hadn't done what I'd expected him to do.

"Let's hope I don't screw this up," I said to myself, quickly scribbling down a few notes before I left the room to head home and mentally prayed that Loki wasn't back yet. The last thing I needed if S.H.I.E.L.D. had begun spying on me (If they hadn't been already) was to see that I was sharing an apartment with a wanted war criminal.

Thankfully (Or perhaps not?) he wasn't there and I used this time to have an evening on my own as I mentally prepared the plans for what I was going to do. The main one was to keep with the group, keep an eye on Peter and make sure I stay with him when he leaves. He first discovers his new powers on the train and that's where I need to be if I am going t make sure that we stay in contact. If I show him my powers then perhaps he could learn to trust me and if I give him my number then maybe he'll contact me when he tries to train.

It seemed like time flew quickly after that and before I knew it, it was the next day and I was standing outside the Oscorp building. I looked upwards, regarding the hexagonal windows and thinking that they reminded me of a beehive. Near the top it looked like someone had tried to fold the building in on itself, with the sun shining off the point and all the glass which composed the outside- it was impressive sure enough and if I leaned back I could just about make out the… aerial thing on top, as well as make myself look like an idiot.

Inside multitudes of people went about their business, taking the escalators up or talking to the people who manned the receptions desks. It didn't take me long to find Peter Parker, going over to one of the receptionists; a woman with her brown hair tied up in a bun and a look on her face that indicated how fun it was to deal with the clueless masses. Peter appeared to be saying something with ounces of hesitation, so I decided then to work my way over.

"Right," she said, in a tone indicating disbelieving. "You'll find yourself to the left."

There was a pause as he stared at her, and she looked back at him in bemusement.

"You are here for the internship?"

"Ye- yeah," he said as it finally processed.

"Okay, you'll find your badge to the left," she said again and he nodded as he looked over them- which was when I walked over. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I'm Agent Attwater from S.H.I.E.L.D., I believe I made an appointment," I said to her with a smile, holding out my badge (I love the badge) and watching Peter also look at it with shock.

"I'll fetch you an escort," said the receptionist with some distaste- apparently this was one of the companies that disliked government agents.

"No it's okay," I replied politely as she reached to the phone mentally calling her a very rude name. I turned to Peter. "You are here for the internship?"

"Yes," he said uncertainly.

"Then if you don't mind I'll join you," I said. "It is after all really Dr Connors work that caught my attention."

The receptionist clearly didn't know how to deal with me, so turned to Peter who hadn't picked up a badge.

"Are you having trouble finding yourself?" she asked.

"No, not at all," he picked up a random badge and showed it to her.

"Okay Mr Guevara." She didn't believe him; that much was obvious.

"_Gracia_s,"Peter said as we walked away, and when out of earshot said to me. "You work for S.H.I.E.L.D.? Is that some kind of secret spy group?"

"Sort of," I replied as we headed upwards.

"Welcome to Oscorp," said a computerised female voice. "Born from the mind of our founder Norman Osborn the Oscorp tower houses one hundred and eight floors of innovation. Our scientific minds are pushing the boundaries of defence, biomedical and chemical technologies. The future lies within."

There was already a group formed when we reached the top, a familiar face leading the pack and I watched as Peter tried to blend in.

"What's the matter?" I asked him. "It's not like you aren't supposed to be here Mr Parker."

"You know who I am?" he asked quietly as Gwen began the introduction. He sounded more impressed than suspicious and that was something I took for a good sign. "So you are a spy?"

A ruckus from downstairs interrupted me before I could reply, Peter strategically put his hand to face as the real Mr Guevara was dragged out by security.

"You aren't going to tell them are you?" he asked.

"I won't if you don't."

The group moved on as we were lead into a decidedly more scientific-looking part of the building, men and women wearing the signature lab coats walking around the various tables in the room which each sported some of equipment. A few items looked familiar and reminded me of the labs back in my Colleges whilst others alien to me. It also hit me then that I was probably on the lower- lowest- end of the intelligence scale in this room.

"Good afternoon, Gwen," said the man himself as he walked over and a few people tried not to stare at his missing limb.

"Dr Connors," replied the blonde with a smile, seeming a lot more happy than him.

"Welcome," he said, this time addressing the whole group. "My name is Dr Curtis Connors and yes in case you're wondering I am a Southpaw*. I'm not a cripple, I'm a scientist and I'm the foremost authority on herpetology- that's reptiles for those of you who don't know."

He looked at me when he said that, and I got a feeling he was being unintentionally (Or intentionally?) condescending. I wasn't a scientist but I loved animals, I knew what herpetology was and not just because I read _A Series of Unfortunate Events_.

"I'll assume you are the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent shall I?" he asked me directly. "Forgive me when I say that you don't look like you're here for the internship."

"I'm Agent Attwater- but call me Jess please," I said with a small nod.

"Okay then… Jess. If you don't mind me asking, are you a scientist in any sort of way?" I mentally slapped myself for going a little fangirl-y over the fact the (soon to be) Lizard said my name. I really should have got used to all this now.

"I can't say I am, but I do have a deep interest in animals and their… abilities I suppose you could say," I explained with a shrug. "So your work holds some appeal with me, even if I can't understand the finer details."

Meaning pretty much all of it, although the basic idea I could grasp easily enough and I wasn't lying when I said it appealed to me. If you think about some of the animals out there, they have extraordinary capabilities compared to us- birds of prey see ten times better than us, a dogs sense of smell is a thousand times more acute and crocodiles possess a strong immune system.

"But like the Parkinson's patient who watches on in horror as her body slowly starts to betray her, or the man with macular degeneration whose eyes grow dimmer every day I long to fix myself. " He was back to talking to the whole group, and I dutifully chose to stay at the back with Peter. "I want to create a world without weakness. Anyone care to venture a guess as to just how?"

It was a nice thought, but a darker- or more realistic- part of myself pointed out that if we could fix people, save those who would normally die and allow people to live on longer. We already had a problem with overpopulation; we'd be saving a few now but condemning the Earth to a quicker death- or turning everyone into some sort of animal hybrid.

"Stem cells?" asked a stereotypical looking geek.

"Promising," acknowledged the Doctor, stepping forwards. "But the solution I'm thinking of is a bit more… radical."

"No-one?" he asked, after a pause.

"Cross species genetics?" said Peter from beside me, the group parted to reveal him and Gwen looked at him in surprise then checked her clipboard. "A person gets Parkinson's when the cells that produce dopamine start to disappear. But a zebra fish has the ability to generate new cells on command. If you could somehow give that ability to the woman you're talking about that's that, I mean… she's curing herself."

"Yeah, you just have to look past the gills on her neck," said one of the group, and the others chuckled. Dr Connor looked impressed though, and looked over Peter with interest.

"And you are?" he asked.

"He's one of Midtown Science's best and brightest," interceded Gwen before he could be found out.

"Really?" asked Connors, turning back to her.

"Mm, he's second in his class," she said.

"Oh."

"Second?" asked Peter. "Are you sure about that?"

"Pretty sure," she replied.

Connors phone- or whatever it was- rang and he looked down at it quickly.

"I'm afraid duty calls" he said apologetically. "I'll leave you in the more than capable hands of Miss Stacey. Nice meeting you all."

His gaze drifted to me briefly before it went to Peter before he went off.

/

"Why is there a government agent here?"

"Do you think she knows?"

"Well she doesn't look like she gives a crap about this stuff."

"So what should we do about it?"

"Still have that Lester guy's number?"

***Can anyone explain this to me? I don't get it, LOL. O.O'**

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews. :3 Have some free authentic Loki helmets and I hope you review this chapter too. ^-^**

**On another note, FYI Electro is going to be in Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Harry Osborn will be making an appearance. Plus does anyone watch Ultimate Spider-Man? I couldn't stop laughing at the Hawkeye-watchdog thing, LOL.**

**Review please. :3**


	3. Chapter 3

"If you'd like to gather round," said Gwen as a 3D tree-like structure appeared in front of her, images of various animals adorning its branches; fish, rhino and birds. Everyone gathered around it and watched it with fascination- everyone except me and Peter of course. As the 'Tree of Life' began its lecture, Peter made to walk off and I contemplated following him. As I did Gwen walked after him, intercepting his escape with a 'hi' and called him out on his fake identity.

The tree droned on for only a few more seconds, disappearing abruptly and signalling that Gwen needed to get back to leading the group. A few last words were said, warnings probably, and then she walked back over.

"Alright, guys," she said to catch the attention of those chatting. "I'm going to take you to the Bio-reactor room now."

She led the group onwards, I went to follow when I heard the sound of something hitting the floor and turned sharply to see Peter apologising to a man as he picked up a file from the ground. He paused slightly as he did so, and when handing it back to the man seemed like he was semi-reluctant to let it go. The Oscorp man made no move to thank him and just walked off Peter looking after him in curiosity before he followed after him, and I rolled my eyes before going after him.

The door led out onto an outer corridor which traversed the edge of the building and showed the hexagonal shapes which decorated the outside of the window rather than making the windows themselves. There were several other people walking along as well, most walking in my direction which became problematic when I realised that they were extremely strict on security and I was stopped several times. Mentally noting that I needed to have got one of those ID badges, although flashing the S.H.I.E.L.D. badge was a lot of fun- even with all of the dirty looks I got and the fact that Peter had now disappeared out of sight.

I continued to walk along, putting up with the occasional stops until I came across a room that looked hopeful. The Biological Development Room, embroidered next to it the symbol that made up the Decay Rate Algorithm, and I walked over to look inside. Peering through the window I could see a conveyer belt carrying plastic trays, a mechanical arm placing a number of miniature metal containers inside- the spider thread? But the narrow window didn't provide much of a view and I couldn't spot Peter inside.

Next to it was the screen which would unlock the door, a number of what looked like boxes attached together and as I tried to remember what the combination was the door opened. Peter looked startled to see me there, nearly walking into me and I raised a finger to my lips as a couple of scientists walked down the outer corridor, thankfully not noticing us or the open door.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him before he could me, then turned around and began walking down the corridor. As expected he followed me, running to catch up and then falling in step beside me. "Just count yourself lucky I have no intention of telling anyone about this."

"Thank you," he said, sounding genuinely grateful. "But can I ask you something?"

"Why aren't you telling anyone? And why does it feel like you're following me?"

"That's two questions," I pointed out, flashing my badge as a strict-looking woman opened her mouth to speak to me. "The reason I'm not telling anyone is because it's not any of my business- unless you're a threat which I somehow doubt."

"Thanks," he turned his head to look at me. "And the other?"

"That's classified," I said with a smile. "She doesn't look pleased."

I was talking about Gwen, who I could see through the glass, and as we rounded into the room she walked up to us.

"I think I'll take my leave," I said, patting him on the back. "Good luck."

I may not have had a spider sense, but there was a voice at the back of my head that told me I shouldn't delay this any longer and so I made to leave. However I wasn't abandoning this yet, I knew Peter was going to take the underground and it was just a matter of figuring out which one he was going on. I guessed he would go to the closest station.

I run over my mental map that I'd worked on yesterday, summing up which one I should go to and beginning my trek. Waiting for Peter was probably the smarter thing to do, but I didn't want to play stalker and if I happened to miss him then I could always follow up on the police reports.

Or just wait for reports of a giant lizard attacking a bridge, because that would be a big clue.

Although it looked like I didn't have to wait. Up ahead of me was an older man with a ring of salt and pepper hair around his head, a large bald patch on top and a beard of a similar colour. He was wearing tracksuit bottoms and some sort of hooded jacket with sleeves that probably used to be white but was now a mottled combination if grey and brown. In his hands was a brown liquor bottle which he occasionally top sips from as he chatted to some other guy.

He was the one who put the bottle on Peter's head; or at least I hoped he was, after all I doubted he looked familiar because of his heroic deeds in the film. He went down the steps which led to the platform I had dismissed, but now took too if it gave me a chance to be there. Making sure not to keep too close, I followed him down and through the place until we reached the platform.

"Are you sure you're not following me?" I heard a voice say, after several minutes of waiting.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I countered, turning to face him. "After all I was here first."

He conceded to the point and we spoke no further as we waited for the train, which arrived shortly afterwards. I made no point to follow Peter and got on ahead of him, only making sure that the old man was in the same part as I was. As expected though Peter joined us, dumping is bag on a bench and lying on it with his feet up against the window. He was asleep before we'd left the station.

I had the bench opposite him, keeping a serious mask on to make sure no-one bugged me and kept away. My last experience here hadn't been so great, although it was with Steve so it was an honour to have him sticking up for me and whatnot.

The train lurched into movement and soon we were heading on our way. My whole body was tensed up as I awaited the inevitable and tried not to make it look like I was up to anything suspicious. A woman sat next to Peter, chatting to her friend who was standing up and ignoring the coffee cup in her hands. I could see a man on the single seat behind her and opposite them were a number of men who were having a good laugh about a story one of them was telling.

After a while I started to get impatient, and was just about to over there and do it myself. But as I shifted the man walked over, leaning over Peter to check if he was faking before putting the bottle on his head and stepping back to admire his handiwork. For a few painful seconds nothing happened. Peter's eyes flew open and before anyone had realised how or why, he was attached to the ceiling and looked about with shock.

Everyone looked at him and for a few seconds he did, before falling off and landing on his butt.

"Disgusting," said the woman who'd had the misfortune of having the beer spilled over her, tugging at her top and apparently oblivious to Peter's trick. "I smell like beer."

Peter got to his feet and went over to the woman.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that," he said as he put his hand on her shoulder. "I didn't mean to do that. I didn't mean…"

He trailed off as he tried to take his hand off her, but found that her top was attached to his hand and I looked away promptly as dirty top man walked over.

"What are you doing?" he snapped. "Get your hand off her!"

"I'm trying," Peter said apologetically, tugging a bit harder and still failing. Dirty top man shoved him and I heard the distinctive rip of the top. Some of the other men laughed, the woman gasped and dirty top man did not sound pleased.

"Are you kidding me?" he snapped. "Are you freaking kidding me?"

"Get him Rhodey!" one of the men laughed as dirty top man (I couldn't call him Rhodey for obvious reasons) lunged at Peter who was preoccupied with the fact he couldn't detach himself from the bar. Peter swung himself around the bar and brought his leg around to kick dirty top man over onto the seats.

"I'm so sorry!" apologised Peter again as one of the women called out for the other men to fight. I figured now was as good a time as any to get involved, and with one quick movement jumped up and put one hand on the pole, the other on the railing and swung myself forward to kick one of the men squarely in the chest and to the ground. I dropped myself as Peter swung both legs around this time and caught the second man in the chest. The third man ran at us and I swung my leg around to knock him over, cursing at the minimal space as Peter knocked him sideways to stop him falling on me.

One of them got up again, looking over to Peter's board and back at Peter again.

"Oh man, not my board, please," said Peter as he realised what he thinking, and with a sigh I rolled forwards and swung my leg hard down on his back as ducked to get the board. I grabbed the board, pulling it out of his reach and for good measure delivered an uppercut as he debated whether or not to attack me.

Behind me, one of the other went for him and Peter jumped, ending up straddling the pole and trying to get free. I was about to go help him when the pole broke free and swung upwards to hit the man in the jaw, the momentum propelling itself to hit dirty top guy in the face.

"I'm so sorry," apologised Peter again, moving around to apologise to the other guy and just hitting them both in the face again with the pole, all the while apologising. All of which would have been hilarious if he hadn't clipped me around the face with it.

"Do you always apologise this much?" I asked him after we had got off, rubbing at the shallow cut on my forehead. "Relax, I can take care of it."

"You can heal yourself?" asked Peter, as the cut faded away. "How-how-"

"It's one of my tricks," I replied nonchalantly with a shrug, then reached into my pocket to find one of those cards I was required to carry with me. I think Fury was after some better behaving people for the Avengers. "And you look like you have a few of your own so I'll give you this."

He looked at the card blankly then back at me, confusion written on his face.

"But I don't have… tricks," he said.

"You do now," I said with a smile, before offering a goodbye and then walking off.

Dramatic much?


	4. Chapter 4

I felt good that this part of the plan had gone through; that now Peter had my number so he could contact me for whatever- he'd also seen that I had healing abilities so I assumed he would contact me so he didn't go back bruised and battered after a night out catching bad guys. But for now it was a matter of patience and waiting. A few things had to play out before we got to the bridge battle- well, rescue more like- and then things would move along.

Speaking of moving along, I sped up my pace as I dodged between the throngs of people on their way to their destination. They'd said there was going to be a big storm later on and I could already see the dark, ominous clouds rolling out across the city. Really didn't fancy being caught up in that so it was now a race between me and nature.

Thunder rumbled overhead, so I made the final dash towards the building and got inside. As I waited by the door, catching my breath I heard the first drops of rain splash down and allowed myself a moment of victory. Walking over to the elevator, I had a feeling that something was wrong and looked about. There was nobody else in the lobby, but Nat had drilled this into my head about being alert and she always told me that just because I couldn't see anything did not mean there was no danger.

Comforting, I know. I turned back to the elevator and pressed the button. It didn't light up.

"Fuck," I muttered under my breath, pushing it again and again. It made no difference, obviously, which meant I now had to look forward to a long trek up the stairs with a little voice in the back of my head telling me that something was off. Maybe I could kidnap Peter back and see if his Spider Sense picked anything up; it wouldn't falsely alert him because he spent the whole night up with Loki watching a variety of horror films that left him extremely paranoid.

Muttering complaints to myself to break the silence, I headed over to the stairs and began the long walk up. Each one of my footsteps echoed, my imagination remixing it to sound like I was being followed and I had to look back several times just to reassure myself that there was in fact no-one following me.

"The drawbacks of an overactive imagination," I said with a sigh. I wondered if my follower thought I was stupid and then mentally smacked myself- I was not being followed! No matter what Nat said there was no way that somebody could be following me and I couldn't know about it. Maybe in the lobby because there they could hide; but not on the stairs unless they somehow managed to stop at exactly the same time I did _and_ without being able to see me.

Time seemed to slow down and it felt like hours had passed by the time I reached my apartment. Still that feeling had not faded and it was slowly beginning to drive me crazy. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my keys, flipping through my collection of key rings to find the one which would open the door and putting them to the lock. As luck would have it though the slipped out of my hands and fell to the ground with a clatter. More expletives left my mouth as I ducked to pick them up.

There was a loud thud above me and I looked up to see the cold shine of a knife embedded in the door. A knife whose target had clearly been my head. I jumped up and swivelled around at the same time, my magic flaring into life at the threat and coating my fist in the blue flame-like substance.

"So the girlie has some tricks?" laughed the man who had thrown the blade, a wide grin on his face and with that target mark it wasn't hard not to know who he was. "This'll be fun then."

"Who sent you Bullseye?" I asked him, contemplating whether or not to just blast him out of the window he stood in front of. The assassin didn't even seen bothered that I knew who he was, instead preparing his other knife to be thrown.

"Like I'm gonna tell?" he snorted, throwing the other knife just as I fired a blast of magic and knocked the blade over the banister. There was sort of a pause as we waited for it to land, which I ended as I sent out another blast of magic straight at him. He dodged it with ease and it shattered the window behind him. "I though you guys had morals about shooting an unarmed guy?"

"Not when we were going to be stabbed in the back," I countered, going to fire another blast when my magic flickered and faded out. "Oh crap."

I dodged out of the way as Bullseye ran over, swinging his leg to hit me in the gut and knock me down the stairs (In retrospect I should have dodged the other way). I was dazed, my head ringing for a few seconds before I managed to get back to my feet. By this time Bullseye had pulled his first knife from the door and thrown it at me. This time it hit me in the thigh, knocking me back a bit and giving the assassin time to leap down the stairs, hit me in the gut and push me down the next flight of stairs.

I heard his laugh as he came down to fight me again and with a struggle reached down to pull the knife out of me leg. I got back to my feet as reached the bottom and lashed out, and more by luck than design cut him across the chest. He just grabbed the knife back from me, taking advantage of my disorientation and walking up to me, whistling a tune as I slowly backed off. It was his mistake though because it gave a chance for my head to clear and for me to summon up my magic again. I quickly blasted him in the chest with both hands.

"I do like it when they're feisty," he said with a laugh, getting to his feet and laughing again when my magic faded out again. "What's up girlie? Scared?"

Of course I was scared, which was maybe what was throwing off my magic- it wasn't the same as in the warehouse when Loki was there, and that was the only other time I'd used my magic like this. Of course, it could also be the fact that I'd taken several blows to the head today. Either way, I needed to stop this now and deal with my leg before I bled to death. It hurt so goddamn much and the amount of blood running from the wound didn't look good either. If I went into shock then there wasn't going to be much of a chance of me getting out alive.

"I would have brought more weapons if I knew you were going to be this much fun," Bullseye said, as though he were praising me, turning the knife in his hand slowly. "You spy guys are usually so easy to kill I was beginning to think that I'd never have a decent fight."

But this wasn't much of a fight, not really, he was just playing with me and I was attempting to survive long enough for S.H.I.E.L.D. back up to arrive. This wasn't like fighting a bunch of idiots on a train, or some nut with a wrecking ball and no clue how to use his powers. This was a highly-skilled assassin, and unless I stopped messing around I was going to be dead. Sure my fighting skills were nowhere near his standard, but if I could just get the knife away from him then I'd –probably- stand enough of a chance to keep him occupied for however long it took. After all, it didn't look like he was in a rush to finish me off.

Quicker than I could follow he threw the knife. My instincts kicked in before I could even realise what had happened and I dodged. I did register the loud thud though as the knife buried itself in the wall. Now all I needed to do was to stop him getting it back.

A stand-off followed as we each waited for the other to make a move. He chose to go first, swinging his fist at my face which I blocked with ease. In retaliation I dropped and swung my leg around to knock him off his feet. He jumped back, coming back as I got to my feet and bringing his knee up to hit me in the gut. I dodged to the side, preparing to hit him in the head and see how he liked it when there sudden and intense pain in my back. I dropped to the ground, letting out a cry as he twisted the blade before pulling it our and coming to stand in front of me with that wicked grin on his face.

"Sorry, I'd have loved to play longer but you lovely spy friends will be here soon," He said with a dramatic sigh. "It's a shame-just when we were getting to the good part. Cheerio!"

He waved his hand at me before whistling and making his way downstairs, leaving me to struggle in vain. I needed to heal my wounds fast, before I lost consciousness, but moving my arms felt like an impossible task now. He obviously didn't know about my healing skills, but also obviously made it so the S.H.I.E.L.D. medics couldn't help me and probably only wanted e to live long enough to tell them about him.

My arm slowly shifted around to touch the whole in my back and I tried my best to concentrate and heal the wound. However he'd hit something major again and the blood loss was beginning to get to me. I had to heal it and I had to heal it fast. Ignoring the pain which screamed at me, ignoring the confusion that was beginning to settle on my mind I put all my though into healing and nothing else. Heal. Just heal.

**A/N: Sorry if I didn't get Bullseye right! I don't know much about him other than what I was in the film Daredevil (I chose not to use that) and the few times I saw him in Dark Reign and Siege. So please feel free to have a go at me if I got him wrong.**

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, alerted or favourite the story and I hope you continue to read. ^-^**


	5. Chapter 5

I wasn't the least bit surprised to wake up in the S.H.I.E.L.D. medical bay, stuck up in bed and forced to wear one of those paper gowns whilst an IV slowly filled me back up again with blood. There was a doctor in the room who was familiar to me- Starbright I think his name was, and he was looking back at me with that patronising smile all doctors seem to do. I waited for him to say something about what a nasty accident I'd had, or I was lucky to be alive; just the usual doctor stuff. Instead he told me that Fury wanted to speak to me as soon as I woke up and that I'd better prepare because he didn't look happy.

But be honest, when have we ever seen a happy Fury?

I decided to let him make the first move, vent whatever anger he had out whilst I checked to see if there was still a hole in my back. If there still was a hole then it was going to be stitched up which meant I couldn't heal it. Sure enough there was a stitched up line indicating that I hadn't completely healed it before I passed out. Of course that meant I'd still have a huge hole in my leg and would end up with a couple of neat scars.

"Any idea who sent Bullseye after you?" he asked, rather pointlessly since there was only one person or 'company' rather who did it.

"Oscorp," I replied casually, watching him carefully for any signs of impending doom. "Guess they were mad I didn't say goodbye."

To be honest though I had no idea why they would send someone out to kill me- where they hiding something there they didn't want anyone to find out about? Something they'd obviously thought that I was investigating.

"Did you see anything that would give them reason to attack you?" asked Clint. I hadn't noticed that he was in the room, leaning against the wall whilst Fury stood at the foot of the bed.

"Nothing," I replied, running a hand through my hair and wracking my brain in case there was something that I'd overlooked. But the only thing that seemed vaguely odd was that every person seemed to keep giving me evil looks because of my government status.

"Well in any case, if they haven't already found you survived they will and they may send another assassin," said Fury. "In which case we need someone more experienced to keep you alive."

Did he mean I was going to have a babysitter? Suddenly I realised why Hawkeye was present. I clenched my teeth slightly, knowing this was going to interfere with my… well, work I suppose you could call it. I knew I should be grateful that it was him watching me and not someone I didn't know, but I needed to speak to Loki about why my magic suddenly decided to play hooky and let me get hurt in the first place.

"I'll assume that you'll want to continue with your… investigation?" asked Fury, and I nodded firmly. "Well from now on you'll have Agent Barton tagging along with you."

So much for me working alone on this one.

/

Afterwards, Fury did treat me to a lecture that seemed to just be the same point expressed in loads of different ways- he didn't seem as concerned as I did about my magic and instead just told me to train harder. So you can imagine that I was seething as we made our way back to my place- Clint and me.

"You're not sharing the bed with me," I told him as we walked in, flicking on the lights and doing a quick study to make sure that Loki hadn't made an appearance. Clint probably thought that I was checking to make sure that no-one had broken in here, but didn't bother to check himself and just collapsed on the sofa.

"You're so cruel," he said, flicking through the book I had placed on the coffee table before picking up the remote and flicking through the channels.

"And you're an excellent guard- I feel safer already," I replied, with much more sarcasm. It sure didn't look like anyone was or had been here so I joined him and begrudgingly let him flick through. I picked up my phone, looking through my missed calls and texts; a few get well texts from the others. Several were calls and texts from an unknown number- no prizes for guessing who.

_**I think you were right about the powers- Peter.**_

_**Something weird is happening to me.**_

_**Do you think you could help me?**_

_**If you really meant it then can you help me before I destroy more school property?**_

It took a few seconds for that one to click- the hoop. That happened on the day his uncle died. I swallowed nervously as I checked the date, it was several days ago. Just how long had I been out? With a quick glance at Clint I went back to reading the texts and then sent one of my own.

**You there kid?**

Surprisingly he was quick to text back.

_**Yeah.**_

**Sorry for the late reply. You still need help?**

This time there was a considerable pause.

_**Meet me at this address.**_

Again there was along pause, before he actually sent the 'address' and I didn't have to know the exact details to know why it was a bridge.

"Hey Clint, you might want to bring your bow."

/

"So you gonna tell me what this is about?" he asked, fingering his mechanised quiver as the taxi slowly approached the bridge.

"Well it's kinda hard to miss," I replied, looking out for any sign of the Lizard as the taxi crawled forward another few inches.

"Does it have anything to do with that."

I looked over to where he was pointing and saw the other taxi that was parked well out of the way- the one with the back ripped entirely open.

"Yes it does," I said, looking with a sense of fear at the wreck. "We'd best go on foot from here out."

Before he could protest I climbed out of the vehicle and began to jog past the traffic in order to get onto the bridge. No doubt I looked a sight to the people in the cars and judging from the apparent interest in me they hadn't seen Dr Connors at all- how you can miss him was beyond me. Hawkeye caught up to me and we were soon both running, his bow ready and my magic stirring as it readied for the fight.

"So what exactly are we looking for?" he asked as there was a loud thus ahead of us and people started to scream. I jumped up onto the nearest car and called my magic to my hand where I brightened the glow holding it above my head as it lit the surrounding area.

It didn't take long to find Dr Connors.

"What happened to normal villains?" asked Hawkeye, as the Lizard roared at us, turning his back and going back to stalking his prey. Clint pulled an arrow out and fired it. It hit the Lizard in the shoulder and it pulled it out before turning to look at us before charging. It grabbed a nearby car and launched it right at us. "I could do with a normal villain right now."

On reflex I held my hand up and forced the magic to flow from my hand in all directions until it formed a circular shape and the car hit it with a loud bang, falling harmlessly to the ground- well it crushed another car, but no-one was in that one. In the commotion the Lizard had vanished, which wasn't a major concern for me because the impact of the car had not been entirely absorbed by the shield and some had transferred up my arm. It had also required more magic than I was used to using in one go and was exhausting.

"That's a new trick," commented the archer, putting an arm out to steady me whilst keeping out a vigilance for the Lizard. "When'd you learn that one?"

"Just now," I replied, watching the magic recede once again. "And shouldn't we be more focused on finding the Lizard?"

A cars alarm went off in the distance, and we watched as another car was lifted. We both knew this wouldn't end well and hurried forward to stop him, but it was already thrown over the edge and before Hawkeye could use one of his many arrows a figure swung by and shot a line at the car. Several more cars went the way of the first and all were stopped by the person who I was pretty sure was Peter.

"Does all this have something to do with your trip to Oscorp," asked the archer as we went on, trying to keep the Lizard in sight.

"Talk later, stop Lizard now," I replied as yet another car went over, again stopped by Peter- and we could now see him clearly.

"Somebody help! Help! My kid is trapped!" shouted a man, and at once all three of us were caught in a dilemma- save the kid or stop the Lizard.

"You go stop the Lizard," I told Hawkeye. "I'll help with the kid."

He didn't argue as he saw the Lizard preparing to go over the side of the bridge and ran after him. Peter was still stuck between the two so I decided to play the nutter and jump over the side of the bridge. In all retrospect no the greatest idea I'd ever had and I'd advise anyone against doing the same.

At the last second I remembered to loosen my body so that when I di land on the back of the car the impact didn't break my legs. It swung haphazardly and it only hit me then what an idiot I was being. Placing my hand on the back windscreen I sent out a pulse which disintegrated the glass.

"Calm down," I said soothingly to the kid, who had started to panic, and I could see the fear in his eyes as he turned to look at me. "I'm here to help you."

Climbing in, I made my way to the back of the drivers seat and smile calmly at the little boy even though inside I was panicking.

"So what's your name?" I asked him, sneaking a quick glance upwards to see Peter swinging his way down here as the car lurched forward another few inches. Looking around I spotted the bag with the name on it. "Okay Jack, I'm going to need you to keep calm whilst I get you out of here."

I leant across, placing my arm around him as I prepared to undo the seatbelt. A loud ping echoed through my ears as I looked up to see the thread snap and the car began to plummet. Why couldn't I have just left it to Peter? Speak of the devil. A red and blue figure swung across and grabbed the back of the car.

"You might want to hurry up Agent," said Peter, I imagined through clenched teeth. The kid began to panic again at the sight of the masked figure and I mentally banged my head against the seat.

"It's okay, he's a friend," I told the kid. "He's here to help- now hold on."

I reached to undo the buckle, struggling a bit before it came loose and pulling the kid in close as I prepared to climb out.

"Really fast please," he said as the headlights caught fire and it spread over the body. "This isn't easy."

"Neither's this," I snapped back as I climbed back out, holding Jack close and grabbing hold of Peter before he let the car go, wrapping his now free arm around me as we watched the fiery wreck plummet into the river. "When you asked to meet me here I assumed you'd already be battling the Lizard."

"Who was your boyfriend?" asked Peter as he hauled us back up, unsurprised that I knew who he was. Climbing back over the railing I handed the kid back to the dad and gave a wave to Hawkeye, who looked like he'd banged his head on something judging from the blood on his head. He didn't look pleased and part of me knew it wasn't just because the lizard had got away.

"Well wasn't that fun?" I asked with a grin.


	6. Chapter 6

"I am never doing that again," I said, struggling to get over my post-jumping-off-a-bridge nerves. Now that all of that was over and done with I was beginning to realise just what I had done. "Why didn't you stop me?"

"I would have if I'd have known you were going to do it," pointed out Clint, walking next to me as we made our way back. I could tell he was angry with me, but he wasn't going the full rant on me unlike some people. I wasn't sure if that was better or worse. But what I did know was that I had actually done something heroic-like. A thought which made me ponder the situation a bit further because I sure wasn't what anyone would call a hero. I mean sure I had been recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D. and I had met the Avengers. But I couldn't say I'd worked with them to save the world and whatnot.

Although that could be argued; I stopped Coulson from dying, I'd blasted Loki off the tower (that was more of a personal satisfaction than anything else), got the Tesseract from the Chitauri and now saved a little boy- with help of course. Yet I didn't want to call myself a hero.

"Clint," I said, breaking the silence between us. The archer didn't look at me, but made a noise to acknowledge that he'd heard me. "What would you say I am?"

He turned his head to look at me now, a questioning look adorning his features and his sharp eyes looking me over carefully.

""What do you mean? For jumping of the bridge?" he asked.

"No, I mean identity-wise," I corrected. A flicker of understanding crossed his face but he still seemed a little unsure and so I tried further to explain but found I couldn't.

"Well you're a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent," he said somewhat unsurely. "You're a friend, a good person… What more do you want to be?"

_A hero like you guys_. I wanted to stay it but instead just shook my head.

"Never mind, "I said, smiling at him and resisting the urge to point out that I was an in-training S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. "I'm just feeling a bit weird."

"After jumping off a bridge I'm not surprised," he said with a chuckle, and then to my surprise put his hand on my shoulder. "I understand that being a new world must be difficult for you, having to start over again and make an identity from the beginning. But you don't need to keep pushing yourself so hard in order to get recognition."

Was that what I was doing? I wanted to deliberate over that, or at least ask Clint what he meant but he was already walking off and I hurried to catch up with him.

No more talking was done that day, not on the way back or even when we had reached the apartment. I handed him a spare duvet and pillows without a word, he nodded his thanks and I retreated into by bedroom for a long, hot bath. It finally gave me a chance to go over what he had said, what had happened and everything else. When I finally got into bed I found that I was unable to get to sleep and as I tried to drift off the thoughts plague my mind.

/

"…At approximately 9pm last night an incident took place on the Williamsburg Bridge. Much of what occurred is merely speculation at this point; however, several eye witnesses to the crime as well as our own preliminary findings have positively placed one individual at the scene. Which is why this morning, I am issuing an arrest warrant for the masked vigilante known as Spider-Man…"

Neither of use had managed to get much sleep last night, though for very different reasons and I doubted I would be wrong if I accused Clint of telling Fury about the Lizard. But I did no such thing and we just sat quietly with our breakfast as we watched this morning's news.

"Is he the guy that had you poking around Oscorp?" asked Clint, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," I replied. There was no point hiding it from him.

"So you knew about this…Lizard?" He was looking at me now, obviously curious about this and probably dying to ask questions to which I would not give the answers so willingly- such as to the secret identities of these two individuals.

"Apparently." I was only vaguely listening, trying to remember what happened next in the film. I could remember the attack at the school, but couldn't remember exactly how that went about and I knew that it had to be happening soon. Maybe it was already happening.

The day passed by without incident, the awkwardness dissolving between us and a more friendly atmosphere arriving. After the excitement of last night we didn't bother going out and just stayed in watching TV. It reminded me of the days I spent with Steve, forcing him to watch Disney films (It was my firm belief that everyone had to have watched plenty of them) and I didn't think Clint would want to do the same. But on the other hand I did get him to watch The Hunger Games.

I was in the middle of listening to him putting down Katniss when my phone went off and I realised it was Peter's text tone. Pulling it out I checked it immediately, unlike Tony's messages which were usually just random crap- he'd phone me if it was important.

**I could use your healing skills about now.**

I was alarmed by the text and took no time in replying, texting him my address and waiting impatiently for him to show up.

"We're going to have company," I informed Clint. "Our Spider friend is in need of my healing hand."

He raised an eyebrow to which I replied with a small grin before getting up to go and get the stuff I needed to clean the wound- which I now had a fairly good idea about what it was made by. Another thought crossed my mind and I turned back to face the archer.

"I'm not leaving you with him alone," he said sternly, not that it was going to change my mind on it.

"Haven't you heard about secret identities?" I asked him as I deposited my stuff on the coffee table. "Besides he's definitely a good guy and he definitely won't hurt me. You trust me on that don't you?"

He opened his mouth to speak and I held up a hand to interrupt him.

"If you're going to spew some crap about orders I will push you out the window," I said in my own stern voice. He stood up, folding his own arms as he looked down at me. "I mean it."

"Do you?" he said with a raised eyebrow although there was a hint of a smile on his face. "And just how do you plan on getting me to the window- I have more experience than you."

"I don't doubt you have more experience than me of throwing people out windows," I replied. "But I'm locking you in my bedroom."

I blushed as he gave me a suggestive smirk and smacked him none too gently on the arm. Without a word I pointed to the bedroom as there was a knock at the door. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before holding his hands up in defeat and going into the bedroom. I made my way over to the door and opened it to reveal the sodden, grimy Peter Parker that required my help.

"Went after the Lizard?" I asked, looking down at the deep gashes in his chest and noting that he'd walked through this building with his costume flashing to the world. He nodded wordlessly and I let him come past me, peering out into the hallway before closing the door behind me. "Take your top off and sit on the chair."

"I bet you say that to all your guests," said Peter jokingly, although his face was set in a grimace as he pulled the top off and sat down on the sofa. Walking over I immediately got my game face on and set about cleaning the gashes. "Arrow boy not here?"

"He's being kept out of the way," I replied, trying not to grimace at the smell of sewage that covered him. "I don't need to ask where you've been."

"You don't have a power to clean me do you?" he asked, sniffing his arm and pulling a face.

"No but they did invent this thing called the shower," I said.

Most of the talk was small talk, and I had the feeling there was somewhere he wanted to go because he kept looking anxiously over at the door. Either that or he expected the Lizard to burst through the door and finish him off. I made quick work of the cleaning and healed the gashes within minutes.

"Any advise doc?" he asked, pulling his ruined top back on.

"Have a shower and don't go fighting giant lizards," I said with a grin, and he chuckled slightly as well as he opened the door.

"Thanks doc," he said with a nod and then hesitated slightly. "You don't mind me dropping in do you?"

"It's no problem," I said, shrugging slightly and mentally trying to remember if anyone else had ever thanked me for my skills- except Steve, he's too polite to count.

"Well… see you."

I nodded curtly and shut the door behind me as he walked away. A tiny blossom of warmth had formed in my chest and I wasn't going to let that go.


	7. Chapter 7

"So any idea what's supposed to happen next?" asked Clint. It was the next day, although other from the fact it was light outside rather than dark you couldn't tell the difference. I could have sworn that I had basically been put under house arrest without it being the courtesy of called that.

"I'm trying to remember," I snapped, the memories of the film having long faded from my head and also the fact that even so my brain was telling me it was important that I get a move on. So after Peter tried to take pictures of the Lizard in the sewer what happened- aside from the Lizard sneaking down and attacking him… I had nothing, and for all I know it could be happening right now. Think film style, after the good guy has escaped from the bad guy what would you do- you'd watch the bad guy berating his minions (although there were none in this case) and then he might find some sort of clue. So clue… what would be the clue here?

…The camera- Peter left his camera down the sewers and if I remember correctly it has his name on and the name of his school. The Lizard was going to attack Midtown Science High and we needed to get there now to stop it from happening.

"We're late for school," I commented. I then proceeded to explain it to Hawkeye and we were soon ready to head on down to the school. Clint had had his bow and quiver resting against the chair in case he should need them.

"You haven't by any chance learned to make portals have you?" he asked, I shook my head and made a mental note to do so as we ran into my room and opened the window onto the fire escape. No words were spoken as we quickly made our way down the metal stairs, when we were close enough to the ground jumping over the side and landing on the filthy concrete with a light thud. Looking out onto the busy street I was thankful that no-one had actually paid any attention to us and without a word we ran out of the alleyway and on to the school.

I won't bore you the details but suffice to say we did bump into several people when it was unavoidable, not stopping to apologise as we made our way other to the school with no way of knowing if the attack had already took place, was taking place or had yet to start. Hawkeye was a lot faster than me and it was exceedingly hard to keep up with him, even though he was busy doing something as we ran- my guess was that he was calling Fury, and my guess proved correct as he turned up at the school to find Black Widow waiting for us.

We stopped for a few moments in order for us both to catch our breath and when we were ready we spoke.

"Hey Tasha," I said in greeting- she had told me she didn't like Nat- and she inclined her head to me. "I take it nothing's going on so far."

"No, the Lizard hasn't turned up yet but scans have indicated there is something heading towards the school," she confirmed as I experimentally switched my magic on, rewarded with the blue glow that covered my hands. "ETA two minutes."

"So we've got to go in, evacuate the school and help the Parker kid," said Clint, summing up the plan and I nodded in agreement as I switched my magic on.

"Will there be anyone else joining us on this fine day?" I asked Tasha, a quick glance at the school showed students beginning to make their way to… wherever. We began walking up to the front door as we did so, ignoring the glances we got as we walked in.

"Negative- Fury seemed to think you could handle this," replied Tasha as we made our way along the corridor.

I wasn't surprised by the looks, and considering that I was flanked by Black Widow and Hawkeye I hoped it looked like I was in charge- I was wearing my S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform as well despite the fact it was uncomfortable in certain places. I'd rather fight the Lizard in a Pikachu Onesie… I should mention I don't _actually_ have one.

It didn't take me long to spot Peter at his locker- talking to Gwen- the other two fell behind me as we walked over and I tapped him on the shoulder. He looked over his shoulder like he was expecting it to be Flash and I could read the surprise on his face as he turned around to face us.

"Jess?" He asked in confusion, looking at the other two- Hawkeye whom he probably recognised. "I'm I under arrest or something?"

Before I could reply people began to scream, and there was a loud roar before the Lizard burst through the wall at the end of the hallway. Students began running and screaming at the sight. Tasha and Clint got ready and stood firm to repel the Lizard should he try to attack.

"That's why we're here," I said in answer to his earlier question, and turned to face Gwen.

"I know you," she said in surprise and I placed a hand on her shoulder as I gave her a gentle nudge.

"Yes, and you should go- we'll handle him," I said with a nod to the Lizard, who was slowly making his way towards us. Gwen looked at Peter unsurely who nodded, watching to make she did actually leave before turning back to face us. "Ready to kick reptile ass?"

"As I'll ever be," he replied, clenching his hands into fists.

The Lizard charged. Hawkeye fired an arrow which sent bolts of electricity crawling across his skin. The Lizard screeched loudly before pulling the arrow off and snapping it in half and before we could stop him Peter ran past, webbing one of his legs and sliding across the floor, pulling the Lizard down. Natasha swung her leg and knocked his arms out from under him as he tried to get up. He reach out and grabbed her leg, pulling her over and when he got to his feet swung her against the lockers. Clint shot an explosive arrow at the back of his chest, blowing him backwards and allowing Peter to web his face as he leapt over and landed back on our side.

The explosion was smaller than what it could have been but the surrounding area had been damaged and the roof looked like it might cave in at any given time, Natasha had got out of the way and had joined the three of us as we waited for the Lizard to get back up.

"There's not enough room to fight," I commented, pointing out the obvious and powering up my magic as the Lizard charged again. Using my new found skill I threw up one of my flowing shields, feeling the impact reverberate up my arm as the Lizard hit it. "Can't hold this up for long."

"We need to get him outside," said Hawkeye, notching another one of his arrows.

"No, we'd be endangering civilian lives," pointed out Natasha. "He could use it as a chance to escape."

"He wouldn't, he's after me," Peter said as the Lizard hit the shield again. My mind imagined spider-web cracks spreading across it as he did it again and again. "Besides- think how grateful everyone will be when they get a week off school."

The roof crumbled, beginning to fall and I was forced to release the shield as Clint pulled me back. For a few seconds nothing happened. Both parties stared at each other.

"It's gonna be a lot longer than a week," I replied. I fired a bolt of magic at the Lizard, sending him crashing back down the hallway. Getting to his feet he grabbed the door of a locker and flung it at us. Then another. Then another. I ducked the first few and blasted several others. "Think Fury won't mind covering the bill?"

I tried to throw up another shield as the Lizard came at us again but my magic wasn't having it. Next thing I knew I was lying on my back in a lab with an angry Lizard chasing after me. Jumping to my feet I ducked out of the way of a swung claw and watched as Peter grabbed his bag and jumped in after us. The Lizard merely swatted him like a fly- sending him through the wall of course.

"I'm guessing you were abused as a baby lizard," I said, backing away slightly as I flared up my magic again. "Why don't you just slink back down to the sewers were you belong."

"I can cure everyone," he said, crushing one flask into another and then chucking it through the hole where it exploded.

"Yeah but first you'd better cure yourself," I replied. Natasha jumped onto the Lizards back, placing a circular device on his chest before jumping out of the way as it exploded in a flash of light. I'd covered my eyes in time but I was still slightly blinded, and I almost missed the shocker arrow Hawkeye hit the Lizard with. Back through the hole as Spider-Man, Peter shot webbing at the Lizard, trying to bind him up.

He ripped free of the webbing, running for Nat who left through the door and roared loudly at her. My magic flickered as I shook my head to get rid of the confusion. It was going to take me a few second to recalibrate myself after being chucked through a wall.

"You okay?" asked Peter from the roof as the Lizard battle moved further down the hallway.

"I'll be fine," I replied, giving him a small salute as I leant against the desk to let my head clear. When I looked up again Peter was gone and heading down the hallway to where the battle was. I muttered a few curse words before I went to join them. After all –whose afraid of the big bad Lizard? … Not me.


	8. Chapter 8

I arrived as the battle moved to the Library, on the way passing the severed tail and disintegrating it with my magic- or teleporting it, I wasn't quite sure about that. Books were getting strewn about everywhere, whilst the clueless librarian went about his duties- cue fangirl moment. Stan Lee! Not that he's have any idea what I was going on about… The Lizard swung one of his hands at me. I ducked and aimed a blast at his shoulder. He apparently wasn't one for words any-more I gathered when he roared at me. I'll admit I jumped out of my skin, but I just fired another blast at his face. Black Widow had gone for the guns instead. The wounds healed fast though and it looked like Hawkeye might run out of arrows soon (How many had he used?!).

The Lizard didn't show any signs of giving up soon, not looking the least bit tired. I know it had been minutes at least, but I'd hoped that all this healing would have sapped his strength. The battle raged on and it seemed like it could go no for a while. Then there were sirens. I could here the police arriving, and judging by the way the Lizard looked around he could as well. We all backed off momentarily to see what he would do, then with one last hiss he ran off. Peter was after him before we could say anything and I has after him before the other two could protest. I followed the trail of destruction until I reached the bathroom and found Peter holding up the tattered lab coat with the word Oscorp embroidered on it.

"Is this why you were at Oscorp?" Peter asked me, holding out the coat. "Did you know about this?"

"Does it matter?" I countered. "We should follow the trail and make sure we get him this time."

I could tell what he was thinking, but I wasn't going to let that bother me. I walked past him and looked into the hole, grimacing at the horrible smell that was wafting up to meet me before I jumped in. I landed in what I hoped was water, because it certainly looked a lot cleaner than I expected sewage to. Walking on a bit, I waited for Peter to join me before we went on our way. I lit up my magic as we went on in case the Lizard jumped out at us. That didn't happen, but I did nearly jump out of my skin when Peter's phone rang and I tried to grab the phone out of his hands as he talked to whoever it was- my money was on Gwen, especially when he told her to make an antidote.

My magic flickered wildly and I mentally told it that if it failed me I was going to strangle it. Peter had finished his phone call and looked at the blue magic/energy coating my hands with a scientific interest.

"Does it always do that?" he asked. "The flickering."

"I'm thinking my bodies just not used to this yet so maintaining it under stress is a pain at the moment," I replied, stating something I had only just thought of.

"You feel stressed?"

"Were tracking a giant lizard in the sewers who could attack us at any moment- yes, I'm stressed," I snapped. Taking a deep breath and exhaling it through clenched teeth, I looked ahead with a wariness as we rounded the corner. Instead of the Lizard though we had arrived at his lair and I looked around the mini-lab with a bit of impression and confusion. How had he got all these things down here?

Peter walked over to the computer, playing the vlogs as I looked around at each of the test tubes and vials. Picking one up I studied its contents before putting it gently back down and moving on. Several of the Oscorp containers with the Lizard serum in it were scattered around, not all of them used. On a whim I picked one up and put it on one of the secure links on my belt- let's see how Fury liked that.

"Oscorp," Peter said in a panicked voice. I turned to look at him and then followed his gaze to the diagram on the side and walked over. "He's going to turn the whole city into giant lizards."

"I thought it was misery that loved company- not lizards," I said in a contemplative manner. Inside I was shaking though- the time was almost at hand and I was going to have to work my ass off if I was going to get this done. My magic flickered again on my hands and I clenched my fists. I wasn't going to let that stop me, I was going to be a hero this time and I was going to play a main role as I helped save the city.

* * *

I took a different route to Peter, continuing to run through the sewers and trying to follow the directions he had given me. My communicator began beeping so I fished around for the ear piece and put it in as there was a loud bang overhead.

"What is your location?" Ah Tasha, formal as ever. "Do you have sight of the Lizard?"

"My location is somewhere in the sewers and no I don't," I replied. Another bang was heard. "My guess is he's close though."

I spotted a ladder and began climbing, hoping that I wasn't going to find myself immersed in a cloud of lizard gas when I got out. Pushing the heavy metal up slightly, I looked around to make sure the coast was clear before I gave it a shove and watched it slowly topple over before I climbed out. A few cars had been strewn about but there was no sign of the Lizard or of anyone else for that matter. I waited a few seconds to catch my breath before following the trail of destruction.

"What are you doing?" So Tasha wasn't gone then.

"I'm currently tracking a giant Lizard," I said, even though I had no sight of him and there were no signs about where he was.

"What about the kid?"

"We split up- decided to take different routes so we had a better chance of cutting him off?"

"From what?"

"Oscorp," I replied, coming to a halt as I looked up at the gleaming tower. "He's going to release the biological agent that transformed him across the city."

* * *

Gwen listened as Peter warned about what was happened, looking over to the antidote which still had another eight minutes to go. She knew what she had to do and without hesitation went over to set off the fire alarm.

* * *

"Well that makes my job easier," I said to no-one in particular as people began to rush out of the building. Running towards it, I dodged the crowds and managed to get inside the building without being stopped. No-one seemed to care what I was doing as I rushed on, trying to remember the way we had gone when we first came in- I needed to find Connor's lab because that's where Gwen and the antidote would be. As well as the device the Lizard was after.

The fire alarm rang out loudly as I made my way up the various stairs and along the corridors, heart racing and lungs aching.

"Come on, come on," I muttered.

The alarms continued to ring. There was a loud smash in the distance. The lights flickered wildly as I found my destination. Gwen looked in the direction of the smash. Walking up behind her I clasped my hand over her mouth on case she screamed and turned her to face me. Placing a finger on my lips I indicated over to the cupboard with my head and released her as we went over. I flared up my magic again, startling her as I fired a blast up at the roof.

Alarms rang and heavy duty doors began to lower as a substance similar to that from fire extinguishers was fired down from the roof. The device making the antidote proclaimed there was one minute remaining and I could see Gwen looking over before I pushed her into the cupboard and turned to wait for the Lizard to show up.

The shutter shuddered under a. sudden heavy blow. I took a deep breath and told myself to calm down as it shuddered again. Closing my eyes I tried a calming technique Loki had taught me, ignoring the sounds of the shutter being torn apart, ignoring the screeching alarms and ignoring the fact that I was now the only thing standing between the Lizard and the device.

The extinguishers had shut off and I could feel the mist-like substance curling about my feet as the footsteps of the Lizard could be heard entering the room.

"Well well- what do we have here?" I heard him chuckle, slowly opening my eyes as he peered at me without much caution. "Are you planning on joining me?"

"Nope," I replied casually as I flared up my magic. "On stopping you."


	9. Chapter 9

"Stop me?" The Lizard chuckled again. "Do you really think you can do that?"

"Well, duh," I replied, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. I even threw in a little shrug as a something extra. "I'm not about to let a giant Lizard push me around."

"We'll see about that." He charged and I fired a double blast at him. Ducking, he ran on all fours and pounced at me before I could fire another. He held both my hands in a tight grip. I tried to break free and when it became clear he as too strong for me I head-butted him. With a screech he released my hands and I fired another double blast at him blew him off me. The room spun as I got to my feet. Swinging his tail around I was hit in the solar plexus as he knocked me over the desk and I struggled to regain my breath as he stalked over.

"You have an interesting ability," commented the Lizard. "But you can't even use it properly."

"Wanna bet?" I jumped to my feet, swinging my arm around as my magic spread out in a curving line to hit the Lizard in the chest and cut him. He barely even glanced at it though and it quickly healed.

"All the tricks in the world aren't going to help you," he hissed, swinging a clawed at me. Slicing through the chest, he watched with surprise as it flickered and vanished and chuckled as he turned around to face me. I held up my arms as I prepared for him to attack me again. "Very good. But you can't keep it up forever."

"I'll refer you to the earlier question." I fired another blast. He dodged the right and I swung another arc at him. Jumping to the roof he crawled rapidly across, swinging his tail down at me, wrapping it around my neck and squeezing tightly. I pulled at it fruitlessly for a few moments, stars crossing my vision and my chest aching. My oxygen starved brain struggling to come up with a plan.

My chest was burning and I could imagine a fire racing through my body as the aching spread to my muscles with a fierce intensity. The Lizard screeched and I was dropped to the ground, lying there as I struggled to breath- my throat still feeling like it was locked in vice. I brought my hands up as I heard the Lizards footsteps head in the direction of the device. For a few moments I imagined I saw a flame flickering across them before I brought them to my throat and healed the damage he had gone.

Time was of the essence as I took several deep breaths, rolling over and climbing to my feet. I wasn't going to get the Lizard get away with the device. But my body didn't seem quite to care so much and I fell against the counter as my tortured muscles protested against the movement. I couldn't let that stop me. I couldn't stand around and let this happen. I was going to stop him.

Pushing clear of the table, I held my hand up and pointed it towards to device, firing a blast that skimmed just past it. The Lizard turned to look at me with a snarl on his face. He knew what I was planning.

"Try anything and I'll just blow that damn thing up," I informed him coolly. He stared at me, assessing the situation. I waited to see what he would do and felt a little unnerved when he chuckled. "Something you'd like to share?"

"If you blow up the device," he began, taking step towards me. "Then the person hiding in the closet over there will die."

I'd forgotten about Gwen. I quickly glanced over, hoping she wouldn't burst out and try anything stupid. I had my hands full at the moment.

"Over my dead body."

"That's the plan." He lunged at me, reaching out to claw me. I jumped out of the way and he swung his tail at me. Holding out my hand I formed a mini-shield and using my other fired another blast. Jumping to the roof, he dodged my blasts as I repeatedly tried to hit him. My communicator began to beep again. I made the mistake of looking at it and the Lizard used the opportunity to lunge at me again, claws swiping across my face.

I panicked. The Lizards claws had hit there target. My eyes. For a moment I panicked, my sight gone and the heavy flow of blood leaking from the scratches had me panicking. Pain distracting me mind and making me forget I could heal and my the time I remembered and started to heal the wounds it was too late. The Lizard had taken the device and left. Gwen was kneeling by my side and she sounded as shaken as I felt.

"We need to get you a doctor," she said, voice shaking.

"I'm fine," I replied breathlessly, calming slightly as the pain receded and my sight returned. "It wasn't that bad."

"You were screaming your head off."

"I was? I don't remember that." Wiping blood away from my eyes I took a breath as I leant against the counter. "Bet I look a sight though."

"You've got blood all over your face," Gwen confirmed, looking a bit- well, very – concerned. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," I repeated, shaking the memories of my few moments of blindness away- that was going to give me nightmares. "I need to stop the Lizard- that's the priority."

"I'm sure Peter's on his way." She disappeared from my view, coming back with the antidote in one hand and a towel in the other. Holding out the antidote she looked at me solemnly. "Will you make sure he doesn't get hurt?"

"I'll try my best," I replied, taking the antidote and clipping it next to the Lizard formula as she began to wipe the blood away from my face. "He's a good kid- I think he'll be able handle himself."

"Will you?" she asked, and I looked at her questioningly. "Be able to look after yourself. You look pretty tired."

I felt it too- I wasn't used to using my magic like this for so long, and the repeated healings were really taking it out of me. My body was at the point where it just wanted to pack it up and call it a day.

"Well I'll have to if I'm to make sure your boyfriend gets back to you," I replied, taking the towel from her and rubbing at my hands. It didn't matter if it was all gone, just so long as I didn't have to worry about it getting in my eyes.

"What about the other two who were with you at the school- where are they?"

"I have no idea," I replied honestly, looking down at the communicator. "But whoever called me is going to have hell to pay."

Chucking the towel down, I got to my feet. Gwen grabbed my arm to support me as I did so and I stretched my arms over my head when I felt I could stand on my own feet. Then with a stubborn determination I walked out of the lab and prepared to go up to the roof.

"Thank you."

I paused, turning back to where Gwen stood. My blood (was that all my blood?) spread about the area.

"For what?" I asked. "I didn't stop the Lizard."

"For protecting me," she replied. I didn't say anything. There wasn't anything I could say.

"Just get out of the building," I said to her, exhausted. Making to go on, I paused and turned back to her. "If you see the two idiots I was with tell them I could use some back up."

She nodded and then went on her way. I turned my back on her and continued walking on towards the roof. Legs aching and screaming, back protesting and the feeling of ghost pain spreading across my face. I automatically clapped a hand over my mouth in case I screamed, falling back against the wall as tears formed. Who was I kidding, I was not fine. It didn't just take my magic healing to make that sort of fear and horror go away.

I tried to go on, nausea descending and whatever food had been inside me now coated the hallway. The coppery smell of blood filled my nose. It was a harsh reminder and I had to mentally scream at myself to calm down. Stop acting like a baby! I told myself. The Lizard is going to turn the city of New York and I needed to be there to help Peter.

No I didn't though, Peter managed it by himself and the only reason I was getting involved was because I just couldn't keep my nose out of this business. I didn't want to save Captain Stacey because I felt the need to- I didn't even know the guy! I just wanted to save the guy to change it and make play I'm a hero. Just like the only reason I ever put up with Loki in the goddamn first place was because I was just a stupid little fangirl pretending I could do something that not even Thor could. Loki knew that- he knows that. That's why he used me like that.

The whole point of being a hero is that you go out and save the world- not for the glory or the fame, but because you don't want to see people suffer and die. Was that why I'm doing this right now? Fighting giant lizards and aliens? Because I wanted to save people? Or was I just doing this because I wanted to be a brat who can't give up on childish dreams. I gave my real world- my family, my friends and every other person who ever thought about just for a childish dream. What kid doesn't want to be a superhero at some point? I was just never able to give that up.

Sinking to the floor I clasped my hands over my face as the nausea resurfaced. Cold sweat dripping from my forehead and the sound of beeping as my communicator was contacted again.

_Do you still want to play hero?_


	10. Chapter 10

I looked down at the communicator, no desire to answer it. My resolve had left me and as I knelt on the floor I could feel the fear I had worked so hard to repress beginning to surface. This wasn't some game, people could die here and I could be one of them. I brought my hand tentatively to the vial attached to my hip, the antidote that was needed. Slowly wrapping my fingers around it I tugged it from the belt and brought it into view. Running my thumb over it I told myself that I needed to get this to Peter. Whether I was hiding myself in my self pity or not, he couldn't stop the Lizard without this.

I clenched my fist at the thought of it, imagining the vial was the Lizards neck. This was no time to sit around feeling sorry for myself. Whether I was playing hero or not this wasn't about me. Attaching the vial back to my belt I slowly pulled myself to my feet, legs shaking and back groaning. Exhaustion had settled in on me and if anything that would make me a liability- if I wasn't already. Holding my hands out in front of me I summoned my magic forth and watched the blue energy swirl around my hands. It lit up the darkened hallway and I found myself transfixed by it.

"You'd better play ball now," I said to it, watching it for a few more seconds before cancelling it, the magic fading away and leaving me in the darkness once again. No, not darkness; there were still the lights that shone from all the over buildings, from the cars still about and police sirens.

Taking a few deep breaths, I pushed that fear back down and buried it once again. _Let it become a shrink's problem in a few years or so._ I felt my composure return and felt the familiar mixture of excitement and anxiety return. It felt fake now, but I wasn't set out to please an audience and I wasn't going to break down again- at least not until I got home. With what I hoped was a confident stride I began to continue my journey to the roof.

Running on to the roof, I slowed down and tried to keep out of sight as the Lizard held Peter up, tail wrapped around his neck with one hand sporting his mask and the other wrapped around both of his hands as wispy trails of webbing drifted to the ground.

"Poor Peter Parker," he said with emphasis, in the short silence that followed making a noise that was almost like purring. "No mother, no father, no uncle… all alone."

"Says the full grown man who wants to be a lizard and live in the sewers," I commented. The Lizard turned to look at me and roared. Firing up my magic once again I shot at the liquid nitrogen, the hose shattering from its base.

Peter wrestled a hand free and grabbed it, turning the nozzle on the Lizard with a fierce determination.

Lending my assistance I fired a shot at the Lizards now frozen hand, feeling slightly disturbed as it shattered only to grow back again. Part of me wondered if my healing abilities would allow me to grow limbs back- something I'd hopefully never have to find out.

Roaring again the Lizard swung his tail around, before he could hit Peter though it had frozen.

I aimed another magic bolt at him and watched with grim satisfaction as that also shattered. But this was nothing more than a distraction and we weren't going to be able to stop him if we didn't stop the device. "Peter!" I shouted as I aimed another bolt at his hand. "Stop the machine!"

He looked at me hesitantly before nodding, dropping the hose and making the dash to the tower where the machine stood raised above us. "_Detonation in T-minus 45 seconds."_

"Take this!" I shouted, reaching down to my belt and tugging off the capsule. With a quick prayer to whatever deities were listening I chucked it across to him and watched with relief as he caught it.

My attention off him the Lizard lunged, aiming to swipe at me. A loud bang rent the air and he was knocked backwards before he could reach me.

Turning my head sharply to see the new arrival I was overwhelmed with relief to see Hawkeye standing there with what I assumed had been Captain Stacey's gun. With a nod he chucked it away and pulled out his bow, notching another arrow as the Lizard roared once again. "Sorry I'm late, Tash and I were trying to stop some police officer from playing martyr."

"And what are you doing?" I asked, swinging my arm around in an arc as my magic swept out and knocked the Lizard off his feet. A distraction which only brought us seconds at most and as I looked out of the corner of my eye I noticed it gave Peter time to reach the machine.

With a roar, the Lizard dropped to all fours and ran towards the tower, dodging everything Clint and I sent at him and with one big bound landing a good way up the tower. Grabbing the rungs tightly he crawled up as fast as he was allowed, a grin crossing his face as the gap between him and Peter closed.

My heart began to race, ideas rapidly wheeling through my mind as I tried to imagine a way to stop him. I thought back to earlier and how I could have sworn there was fire on my hands. If that was true then I was going to need to use that again. I took a deep breath as I tried to find it again.

Hawkeye meanwhile pulled out another of his explosive arrows and prepared to fire, only to stop as the Lizard reached the platform- he couldn't risk hurting Spider-Man or damaging the machine. "If you'd like to help at some point," he said to me, changing arrows.

I felt the heat rising in my body and pulled on it the same way I did with my magic, watching in satisfaction and excitement as the blue magic swirling around my hand changed to the red of fire. _Hopefully it works the same as regular magic_, I thought swinging a fireball at the Lizard who screeched in pain.

Peter used this distraction to jump and kick him squarely in the chest with both feet, making him fall off the platform.

"When did you learn these new tricks?" asked Hawkeyes, firing a Taser arrow at the Lizard before he tried to climb back up to the platform above.

The voice of the machine began to count down from ten and I felt a surge of relief that this would all be over soon. I aimed another fireball just above the Lizard as he prepared to dash up again.

He realised that we weren't going to let him and ran at us instead, dodging our weapons and picking up a canister of liquid nitrogen. With a growl he hurled it as us and we jumped out of the way, watching it spiral over to the door where it exploded and froze the entire frame. Picking up another he threw it at us again, then another and another.

I jumped back as one exploded in front of my feet, the ground underneath me freezing as I landed. My legs slipped out from underneath me and I fell to the ground, not able to move quickly enough to dodge the next one.

Hawkeye did a sideways roll and put his bow away as he pulled me away from the canister, dragging me to the side as it sailed past.

With a quiet thanks I got to my feet and watched in satisfaction as the blue projectile was shot into the air from the machine.

The Lizard stopped to watch as well, not realising his plan had been foiled as blue flecks began to rain down from the sky.

It was over. We'd done it.

The flecks rained down onto the Lizard. He began to screech as he realised the specks were changing him back, trying to brush them off in a futile attempt to stop them. Writhing and twisting as he struggled for control, only for his tough hide to give way to human flesh and his tail and right arm to fade away into nothing.

Peter jumped down from the tower and came to stand next to us as we took the next few seconds to recover. "Well that was exhausting," he commented.

"If you think that's exhausting kid then wait until the next alien invasion," Hawkeye said, shaking his head. "Facing that many enemies at once is a pain."

"Doesn't mean this isn't exhausting," I pointed out, watching as the last of the Lizard faded away and a very awkward Dr Connors was left standing there. "I think I could use a break."


	11. Epilogue

The black of the night began to change to a deep red as the sun started to rise. News reports continued to weave their own elaborate and dramatic tales about what had happened last night. Rumours of giant lizards spread around the city and despite being told that those who had been infected were cured, you could already find the occasional person who swore they had seen one.

S.H.I.E.L.D. were content top let the rumours brew after a sweep search of the city found nothing, and with the main culprit sitting behind bars there was nothing left to fear. For the moment, that is.

Call me pessimistic but I knew it wouldn't be long until a new danger was stalking the streets. Alternatively you could just say it was kind of obvious when you're living in a comic book/movie world. Either way, I knew I was going to have to solve this emotional crisis before my next big battle.

The bridge of the Helicarrier was filled with the usual silence as the agents focused on keeping this thing up in the air. I stood next to the giant glass panels which presented a view of New York basking in the fiery red glow of dawn. It was both breath-taking and slightly disturbing. The old rhyme sprung to mind and I unconsciously ran my hands across my face. _Yup, blood was spilled last night. _But the world- or city rather- had been saved, Captain Stacey had also been saved- so why did I feel so sad? Was this part of my ego complaining at being a fifth wheel- it was Tasha that kept Gwen's father from coming up to the roof and it was Peter who switched the chemicals. Although I had helped my delivering the chemical and distracting the Lizard so he wouldn't tear the kid limb from limb.

"Something troubling you, Agent?" I didn't see Fury until he stood next to me, gazing out at the view with me.

Yes, there was something bothering me. Ever since the Lizard had clawed my eyes out and I'd had my soul-baring moment, something I gathered was supposed to give you clarity and had instead left me a self-pitying wreck. Why was the question. Why had I been asked to join S.H.I.E.L.D.? Why had Loki decided to help us we were fighting the Chitauri? Why did they still pay attention to me?

"Agent Romanoff informed me of what happened in the tower," Fury continued when I didn't answer. "I have some idea if what you went through. It's not a pleasant thing- moments of clarity never are."

I turned my head to look at him, but he kept his gaze straight ahead.

"You'll see it happen a lot in moments like these- the ones were you are forced to take account for what you are actually doing." He turned to meet my gaze. "Stark had his in Afghanistan and look where he ended up because of it- a superhero and a pioneer in renewable energy rather than continuing recklessly on as he had before. Loki on the other had, from what I can gather from Thor, had his moment of clarity when he discovered this 'big secret'- whatever that was- and what he decided to do with it ended up with him invading Earth."

He paused for a moment.

"The point is you need to resolve whatever the issue is or it will eat at you for the rest of your life, and trust me when I say that is not something you want." He sighed. "I recruited you for a simple reason; not because of your magic or the fact you were from an alternate world, but because when the Chitauri kidnapped you, you didn't sit around moping you got off your backside and did something. Likewise, with Coulson you can tell yourself all you want that anyone from your world would have done it- but do you really think that everyone would be willing to throw themselves in front of a blade? When you were in the tower during the invasion, you didn't sit around and do nothing- rather you again got off your ass and did something. So next time you're moping around think about that."

I ran my hands through my hair as I flushed slightly. Sometimes I could swear he was reading my mind. Reaching to my belt I pulled off the vial of Lizard serum I had recovered from the sewers and held it out. "I thought you could use this, sir."

He took the vial from me and put it on his own belt. "Thank you, Agent."

We stood there for a while longer, at least until another Agent announced my jet was ready. I turned around to leave when I felt a firm hand on my shoulder.

"I'm extending your break and I except you to make up for all the lost hours when you return." Fury nodded briskly to me before releasing me and turning his gaze back to the window as I walked away.

/

"So it looks like they were here for that regeneration serum then."

"Are you telling me that we hired that lunatic for no reason then?"

"We weren't able to know what there target was- we had to be cautious."

"And your being 'cautious' means they now know something is going on at Oscorp."

"Apologies sir. We needn't worry though- the project has been relocated to a secure facility."

"Good- we don't want those S.H.I.E.L.D. watchdogs finding the symbiote."


	12. AN

**A/N: Thank you for those who are still with this- assuming there are still people reading this. '~'**

**Believe it or not, I already have the prologue for the sequel to this fic inspired by Ellize Avalon (Sorry of I got the name wrong) and by inspired I mean they asked for me to honour the poll and make it LokixOC.**

**The title for the fic is Our Tangled Web and I hope you like it. ^-^**

**Thanks all! -DoS**


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